After a leadoff blooped single by Brandon Phillips, Halladay retired 18 of 19, including 17 in a row. He did not surrender another hit until Joey Votto’s leadoff double to left field in the seventh.

Halladay was pitching on eight days rest. My colleague Todd Zolecki informed me that the last time he had that kind of rest, he threw the no-hitter vs. the Reds in the NLDS last year.

“He was getting some help at the bottom of the zone, we thought too,” said Reds manager Dusty Baker. “That’s where he lives. He’s getting those pitches at the bottom of the zone and he’s going to be exceptionally tough. That’s where he stays all the time.”

Notes:

*Bronson Arroyo gave up two more home runs and his 36 homers allowed for the season set a new club record for a right-handed pitcher. Lefty Eric Milton set the overall club record with 40 homers surrendered in 2005.

*The Hunter Pence homer off of Arroyo in the sixth inning was kind of stunning. It was helmet high on Pence and he reached up and still hit it out.

*The Reds are 1-5 vs. the Phillies this season.

*Brandon Phillips has the longest Reds hitting streak of the season with 13 games on the previously mentioned single.

*The Phillies are 21-7 this season when Halladay starts.

Quotes:

“I was cheating bad and I still hit it down the first-base line. Maybe it did help a little bit, otherwise I would have hit it in the stands. It didn’t help a lot.” — Roy Halladay on his three-run double off of Arroyo in the sixth.

“This kind of lineup, you make mistakes and they can hurt you, especially if they are preceded by walks or anything like that. They hit the ball out of the ballpark on us tonight. They got what they needed – seven innings out of Halladay. We didn’t muster up a whole bunch of offense.” — Dusty Baker

“I probably had been more frustrated in the past. Going 9-15 with 22 quality starts in ’07 wasn’t real fun. It’s more frustrating when you continue to pitch well like Cueto and Leake have and don’t win ballgames. I haven’t really matched the quality starts I’ve had over the past five seasons so it’s a little easier to swallow. Regardless, you’d like to go out and perform better than you have.” — Bronson Arroyo

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4 Comments

Well, gentelmen, the Phillies are the team the Reds want to be when they grow up: top pitching, top fielding and plenty of hitting and hitting for power. The complete package. this series is going to be another measuring stick of how far the Reds are from fielding that team. Okay, so this offseason, they shouldn’t sit pat – go out and get some top players, jigger the payroll so it works. Make it happen. No more waiting. And, Mark, you are ‘a breath of fresh air’ every inning you spend in the announcer’s booth.

Never gonna happen. The Phils have the gigantic market and the resources to assemble and hold together a team that can rival the great clubs of the age before the free agent. Cincinnati barely has the resources to assemble what they have at present. If it does develop into a consistent contender, they won’t have the resources to hold it in place long enough to even come close to the kind of run Philadelphia has had for the past five years, unless we are willing to entertain a radical restructuring of the economics of the game. I see no call for that anywhere on the horizon.

I have to agree with Denny. I am a Reds fan living in Philadelphia and I see everyday why the Phillies will always be able to compete, and anyone who watched the last two games can quickly see why the Reds will never be able pay for players. It is called fans in the seats. The Phillies have sold out every regular season game since mid 2009 that is roughly 44,000 fans every night for over two years. That kind of revenue allows them to pay for a Cliff Lee and a Roy Halladay and add a Hunter Pence at the trade deadline. On the flip side a buddy of mine came up to me today and said he was watching the game last night and his wife asked Where are they playing? Florida? That was the last time she saw a ball park that empty on television. The Reds have a great young core and can compete for the next couple of years with who they have and additional up and coming young talent, but they will never be able to go out and make a splash sighing because the fans won’t pay for it.

Agree, mostly, with the firsthand insights from Jason. With this huge qualification: Many Reds’ followers will forward the argument that if ownership would go out on a limb and spend for improvements that would produce a winner, then the fans will come and pack the park. You know: the old movie cliche, build it and they will come. First: it has never happened. Not even in the era of the Big Red Machine. The city and the surrounding region are just too small. Moreover, even if that were to happen by way of a near miracle, it wouldn’t create much financial bonanza. It would help. Of course. But the real separation in today’s game economics is generated by the television contract and the commercial pool potential. This will never permit the Reds to close the gap in revenues centered in a declining region.

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